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Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 28 Jan 2016, 04:28
by francois
I have this Dell optiplex 746 desktop with two hdd on which I am unable to install syslinux on sda where is the win 7 32 bit install and with porteus on sdb. Porteus reports syslinux is installed but at boot up the boot loader is not there. The box boots directly in windows.
Any suggestion?
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 28 Jan 2016, 04:50
by Ed_P
francois wrote:Any suggestion?
Look for an app named Grub2Win.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub2win/files/ It will install grub2 on the sda drive and add a boot option to the Windows BCD file. You then create an entry in the grub.cfg file for Porteus.
What version of Porteus are you looking to boot and what version of Windows is on the machine?
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 28 Jan 2016, 04:58
by aus9
good suggestion Ed_P
ahh some newer hard drives for windows users have a hidden partition on them....this should be visible to gparted.
Don't delete it if you find it but let suggest what may have happened.
so you were right that Porteus thought it was installed but on reboot .....this may have occurred---During the bootup the firmware in the hidden partition checks for a changed boot and if detected ....the blinking thing overwrites your changes.
IMHO you are better off looking at a PBR change rather than a MBR change....if Ed's suggestion fails and I offer the possible reason
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 28 Jan 2016, 05:01
by aus9
ahh just see the other post by francois.
yep that looks like a hidden partition called repair and its highly likely to contain firmware.
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 29 Jan 2016, 16:39
by beny
dd bs=440 count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx, francois you have to overwrite mbr,so i think you can have a failure to boot windows from the same disk sda but you can chainload it from the syslinux.conf.
this is the arch path to the syslinux directory,maybe porteus have a different one,and you have to create the syslinux.conf if don't have it.
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 30 Jan 2016, 02:26
by francois
@Ed_P and aus9:
Thanks.
I will try beny's suggestion, I would like to remove grub2 on sda1.
@beny:
I am unable to boot and trying to reinstall from sdc1 which has a porteus install (there is a porteus install on hdd on sdb2).
Code: Select all
root@porteus:/home/guest# dd bs=440 count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
dd: failed to open ‘/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin’: No such file or directory
root@porteus:/home/guest#
Code: Select all
root@porteus:/home/guest# lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 ntfs Réservé_au_système
2820436A20433DD6 /mnt/sda1
└─sda2 ntfs A0C24553C2452F3A /mnt/sda2
sdb
├─sdb1 swap swap 6947cb4e-9b09-4d2b-b3cd-432b51fdd953 [SWAP]
├─sdb2 ext4 41aaa421-6db0-4f40-937b-71caabaa788f /mnt/sdb2
├─sdb3 ext4 manjaro 41324bfd-f30b-47cf-91de-d0b7304be74e /mnt/sdb3
├─sdb4
├─sdb5 ext4 fedora b762b048-abc0-4683-a157-f6c190219369 /mnt/sdb5
└─sdb6 ext4 manjaro 6a43b82a-8f20-47bf-b914-65f7cee7ea52 /mnt/sdb6
sdc
├─sdc1 ext2 bf2386b2-c19c-43ed-8517-0eef3b9cc5b0 /mnt/sdc1
└─sdc2 vfat F4D3-7E12 /mnt/sdc2
sr0
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 30 Jan 2016, 03:46
by beny
hi francois, well syslinux if i remeber well boot only the system where is installed,so not sda but where is porteus,the path of syslinux in your system maybe different i have told you,restore the mbr of windows and try to write the mbr on the porteus hard disk and chainloads the other system to syslinux arch wiki have a good example how to work this bootloader,in my system i have removed the lilo bootloader and work with extlinux,
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 30 Jan 2016, 05:18
by Ed_P
francois wrote: I would like to remove grub2 on sda1.
If you did not use Grub2Win other than install it simply delete the grub2 folder. If you actually ran Grub2Win and it created a boot menu item for you uninstall it by clicking on the Uninstall option at the top of it's main window.
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 01 Feb 2016, 07:41
by aus9
@francois
I was linked here saying this was your grub2 post?
I would like to remove grub2 on sda1.
firstly if grub2 is in the Partition Boot Record then you should be able to tell with something like this
done as root
Code: Select all
dd if=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1 | strings | grep GRUB
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes (512 B) copied, 3.9856e-05 s, 12.8 MB/s
GRUB
If there is NO mention of GRUB your original attempt to put grub2 into the PBR failed......and irrespective any bootloader in PBR needs a chainloader command from some other boot menu to get to it.
2) If you delete grub2 software, its safe to leave grub2 in PBR it won't hurt at all
3) If you intend to setup another boot loader into that exact partition PBR then your other software should "show" you how to OVERWRITE that PBR.
sorry for the shout
4) If this is truly your post where you want to re-vist grub2 let me know and I or others can help
altho I am not an expert on grub2 I am very experienced at it etc
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 06 Feb 2016, 15:58
by francois
It had became grub2 when I tried to install a manjaro install on the machine, frustrated I was to be unable to boot it on its own without a usb key. As I wrote elsewhere, all I was left after the manjaro chroot procedure at bootup was grub command line with no menu choice. It has been resolved.
1.0 Update on my tribulations, I have got grub2 functioning with the following instructions:
https://forum.manjaro.org/index.php?top ... #msg254365
To get the location of vmlinuz and initramfs files, if any:
Code: Select all
grub> echo $root
grub> ls ($root)/boot/
According to my values:
Code: Select all
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.1-x86_64 root=/dev/sdb3 rw
grub> initrd /boot/initramfs-4.1-x86_64.img
grub> boot
And to restore menu entries of grub2:
Code: Select all
sudo pacman-mirrors -g
sudo pacman -Syy
sudo pacman -Suu
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
How do I get that done?
Edit:
OK. Done.
3.0 Or from here, how can I install syslinux or chainload syslinux?
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 06 Feb 2016, 23:52
by aus9
@ francois
some minor points please
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.1-x86_64 root=/dev/sdb3 rw
suggest you remove rw. The init system process will complete and give you read write at the end. It is normal not have it read write at the early stages of boot up.
2) If win7 is on sda then for grub2 just add a chainloader menu.....
simple but UNOFFICIAL method first
edit the grub2 /boot/grub/grub.cfg or where ever it is on sdb3 to have a new menu entry with root powers
menuentry "W7" {
set root=(hd0)
chainloader +1
}
reboot to test ....will attempt to chainload to MBR of first drive
3) if that worked...OFFICIAL method is to edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom and place that entry at bottom of page as root and run as root
but have you changed the bios boot hard drive order?
ie is this grub on sdb.....sdb being booted first?
If it is...then then change the hd0 to hd1
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 07 Feb 2016, 01:08
by francois
@aus9:
Meanwhile, I had it sorted out with a second update-grub. But I retain your counsel to remove rw. My fstab modifications did not resist reboot due to rw and I was thrown in manjaro emergency mode.
Thanks.
Re: Unable to install syslinux boot partition on windows
Posted: 07 Feb 2016, 02:33
by aus9
chainloader menu can change for any other hard drive or partition
if you chainload to another hard drive its hdX where X is an integer
If you chainlaod to a partition then formula changes to
set root=(hdX,Y)
count hard drives from zero so X=0 or 1 or 2 etc
count partitions from one so Y = 1, 2 or 3 etc